Scan barcode
A review by beejai
How to Pray by R. A. Torrey
4.0
Last year I read a couple different contemporary books on prayer and they honestly did not seem all that relevant. Intercessory Prayer was a reread and an excellent look at the theology of prayer and I would recommend it for that. But at no point in the book did I feel the need to put the book down and apply what I was learning. The others were just plain weird.
So in December, I pulled into my kindle a series of books on prayer that I wanted to tackle in January. These were all classical works by tried and true authors. The first of these was With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray. It was en excellent work on the topic of the likes you simply do not see in our era.
The second book I read is this one. Wow. Torrey first wrote this gem right around the turn of the century about a hundred twenty years ago. Even still, this book has a prose as well as a practicality that makes it very relevant today. Far more than most of your contemporary works on the subject. I would highly recommend this book to someone who wants to be inspired and challenged into a deeper life of prayer.
Some highlights:
"Jesus spent much of His time and strength in prayer, and a man or woman who does not spend much time in prayer cannot properly be called a follower of Jesus Christ."
"One night of prayer will save us from many nights of insomnia. Time spent in prayer is not wasted, but is time invested at much interest."
"Many people call it submission to the will of God when God does not grant them their request the first or second time that they ask, and they say, “Well, perhaps it is not God’s will.” In general, this is not submission, but spiritual laziness."
"Our whole life should be a life of prayer. We should walk in constant communion with God. Our souls should be constantly looking up to God. We should walk so habitually in His presence that even when we wake up in the night, it would be the most natural thing in the world for us to speak to God in thanksgiving or in petition."
"The great cry of our day is work, work, work – new organizations, new methods, new systems. The great need of our day is prayer."
So in December, I pulled into my kindle a series of books on prayer that I wanted to tackle in January. These were all classical works by tried and true authors. The first of these was With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray. It was en excellent work on the topic of the likes you simply do not see in our era.
The second book I read is this one. Wow. Torrey first wrote this gem right around the turn of the century about a hundred twenty years ago. Even still, this book has a prose as well as a practicality that makes it very relevant today. Far more than most of your contemporary works on the subject. I would highly recommend this book to someone who wants to be inspired and challenged into a deeper life of prayer.
Some highlights:
"Jesus spent much of His time and strength in prayer, and a man or woman who does not spend much time in prayer cannot properly be called a follower of Jesus Christ."
"One night of prayer will save us from many nights of insomnia. Time spent in prayer is not wasted, but is time invested at much interest."
"Many people call it submission to the will of God when God does not grant them their request the first or second time that they ask, and they say, “Well, perhaps it is not God’s will.” In general, this is not submission, but spiritual laziness."
"Our whole life should be a life of prayer. We should walk in constant communion with God. Our souls should be constantly looking up to God. We should walk so habitually in His presence that even when we wake up in the night, it would be the most natural thing in the world for us to speak to God in thanksgiving or in petition."
"The great cry of our day is work, work, work – new organizations, new methods, new systems. The great need of our day is prayer."